Open Newswire

The anti-austerity Syriza party leads in polls heading into Greece's national elections Sunday. Syriza says if elected it will renegotiate some of Greece's debt and halt austerity policies. Syriza also calls for a European debt conference similar to the 1953 London Conference that relieved German debt and allowed the country to extend debt payments. The 1953 accord led to such incredible economic growth for post World War II Germany that the period is referred to as the "Wirtschaftswunder" or the "economic miracle."

"It's interesting that Syriza calls for a debt conference," said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the debt relief organization Jubilee USA. "It certainly worked for Germany in 1953 and can be a model for heavily indebted countries today."

Greece is the third most heavily indebted country in the world and the most heavily indebted country in Europe. It owes more than $360 billion in total debt. Current polls give Syriza a 4 to 6 percentage point lead over current Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' New Democracy Party.

"The Greek election is now a referendum on austerity and debt," noted LeCompte who sits on United Nations debt expert groups.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), European Union and European Central Bank negotiated a $147 billion Greek bail out plan in 2010. The loan package included a number of austerity measures that sparked protests in Greece. From 2010 to 2015, unemployment rose from 12% to 26%, the economy contracted five years in a row and wages fell. The country's debt burden also grew. A group of economists released an open letter this week calling for the IMF and European Central Bank to cancel Greek debt and asserted that austerity is "crushing economic activity."

An Argentina bond contract clause expires on December 31 raising the possibility that hold-out hedge funds and Argentina could settle a long running debt dispute. After defaulting in 2001, Argentina restructured its debt with 92% of its bondholders and put in place the Rights Upon Future Offers or RUFO clause. The RUFO clause gives restructured bondholders the right to a higher settlement if Argentina settles at a higher level with another Argentine bondholder. When the clause expires midnight on Wednesday, Argentina and hold-out funds could reach a settlement that would not leave Argentina open to RUFO clause litigation.

"However this dispute is resolved, we're still concerned about the global implications of this case," said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development group Jubilee USA. In the spring, Jubilee USA filed a US Supreme Court Amicus Brief to inform the high court of the case's impacts on developing economies. "Even if Argentina settles with the hold-outs, this extreme behavior is legitimized."

All Independent Media outlets have been asked to publish the following letter, from Assata Shakur. --editor--

My name is Assata Shakur, and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the US government’s policy towards people of color. I am an ex-political prisoner, and I have been living in exile in Cuba since 1984.

I have been a political activist most of my life, and although the U.S. government has done everything in its power to criminalize me, I am not a criminal, nor have I ever been one. In the 1960s, I participated in various struggles: the black liberation movement, the student rights movement, and the movement to end the war in Vietnam. I joined the Black Panther Party. By 1969 the Black Panther Party had become the number one organization targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program. Because the Black Panther Party demanded the total liberation of black people, J. Edgar Hoover called it “greatest threat to the internal security of the country” and vowed to destroy it and its leaders and activists.

In 1978, my case was one of many cases bought before the United Nations Organization in a petition filed by the National Conference of Black Lawyers, the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice, exposing the existence of political prisoners in the United States, their political persecution, and the cruel and inhuman treatment they receive in US prisons. According to the report:

"Debt, corruption and tax evasion are part of why people die in West Africa," stated Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA, a religious development coalition. "The money was there to contain Ebola and save more people from preventable diseases."

(The library is an easy walk from the 30th & Downing Light Rail Station: Line D. There are bike racks and ample parking at the library).

Agenda:

6:30 to 6:45 p.m. Introductions and Announcements

6:45 to 7:00 p.m. Chapter Discussion

Discussion/vote on a proposal to start a reading group in January, 2015 on Marx’s Concept of the Alternative to Capitalism by Peter Hudis.

7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Reading Discussion: Building a Truly Human Society

Reading for discussion: “Private Property and Communism” from Karl Marx’s Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844http://bit.ly/imhoreading1. If you don’t have time to complete the reading, we’ll catch you up :)

Join us afterwards for drinks and more conversation at The Whittier Pub (2000 E. 28th Ave, Denver, CO 80205), one block from the library.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA), a group of banks and investors, will call Friday for reforms aimed at preventing repeats of the Argentina/NML Capital debt dispute. The ICMA's plan would reduce the ability of hold-out creditors to litigate and undermine debt restructurings, in part by using contract clauses to bind all bond-holders to debt restructurings that 75% of all holders agree on.Additionally, the plan will argue that the "pari passu" or parity clauses in existing bond contracts should always mean that hold-out funds should always receive the same restructured bonds that the majority of investors agree on.

"This is a step in the right direction and we really applaud the US government's leadership on this," noted Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious debt relief organization Jubilee USA. "I am concerned that this won't do enough to prevent litigation against poor countries in the next decade. We still need a statutory approach."

The Argentina/NML case could soon impact other countries facing creditor litigation. Last month, a US judge in New York ordered the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to pay $68 million to two hedge funds that acquired the country's debt on the secondary market and then sued. The award included nearly $50 million in interest on loans dating back to the early 1980's. According to the United Nations, the DRC is the world's second-poorest country. Meanwhile, the Import-Export Bank of Taiwan is suing the Caribbean nation of Grenada, making an identical legal argument to the one used against Argentina. The case is currently on hold as Grenada attempts to resolve its debt situation.

"The Argentina case has a global impact and we need a global solution," said LeCompte. "We need an international bankruptcy process to make default less likely and force hold-outs to sit at the table."

We have just finished writing a zine on living in an activist collective intentional community. It was written as a practical guide with tools and references to assist in achieving a more sustainable approach to strategies and tactics for reaching goals. We approach this work from the experience in our shared collective narrative in an effort to ground much of the theory in our practice. This is written from an understanding of the context of white-supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy.

We've been working on this zine for almost a year now and are in the process of self distribution and thought this material relevant to many on the IMC network. We live in the neighborhood of Grant Hill in the city of San Diego and think this would be an amazing resource for existing and potential housing collectives locally and far beyond.

Please take a look at our link to view the zine! anthillzine.wordpress.com

We would appreciate inclusion in any zine libraries or info-shops as a means to making this information accessible for those looking to engage in similar projects. We are attempting to keep track of any libraries and info-shops that are potential hubs for distribution. Feel free to contact us with any questions about the zine or its distribution going forward.

Argentina is likely to default barring a last-minute breakthrough in negotiations with hold-outs or a court order. Argentina's grace period to pay bonds restructured after its 2001 default expires July 30th. United States District Judge Thomas Griesa ruled Argentina cannot pay the 92% of restructured bond holders unless Argentina also pays hold-out predatory hedge funds in full.

"Argentina is hours from default," said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious financial reform organization, Jubilee USA Network. "At this point, a deal seems unlikely. Argentina may decide that the cost of default is less than the cost of compliance."

Thank you for contacting us regarding printing union contract books for the correctional employees of the GEO Detention Facility in Aurora, Colorado owned by the GEO Group, Inc.

Unfortunately, we will have to decline printing this job. As a print shop that stands for workers rights, we cannot in good conscience print a job that would be paid for by the suffering and imprisonment of other workers, especially imprisonment that is based solely off of the sk...in color and country of birth of those workers.

P&L Printing has always taken a strong position on the issues of border enforcement and migration, and we have always stood with migrants and their families and supporters. We cannot print a job for the GEO Group, Inc. or any of its affiliates, even a union of correctional employees, if it means in any way aiding in the process of migrant detention and dehumanization for profit. We feel that printing any job for the GEO Group, Inc. would violate everything that we believe as people fighting for a socially just and equitable society.

We thank you for the consideration, but will not be able to take on this job.

Respectfully,

Dave Strano
on behalf of the collective of worker-owners of
P&L Printing
Denver, CO